Faceshield assemblies are an integral component of protective equipment worn by personnel in any number of industrial settings. Such faceshields may cover only the wearer's eyes or may be full face and chin covering shields. These faceshields are typically worn by workers in environments where an eye or face hazard is present such as welding or grinding. The faceshields may be attached to protective helmets or may be attached to headbands or the like. While such faceshields are intended to be placed in a down or use position while the wearer is in the hazardous environment, they are typically also moveable to an up or non-use position when the wearer leaves the hazardous situation. It is therefore important that the faceshield be attached to its supporting headgear in a manner which will facilitate deployment between use and non-use positions.
Various attachments and joints for use in securing faceshields to their associated headgear are known. These have sometimes taken the form of a threaded stud on the bracket, an aperture on the visor arm or faceshield arm that fits over the stud, and a separate knob which engages the threaded stud. Upon tightening of the knobs on each side of the faceshield, the shield can be held in a desired position. Another known pivot joint for a faceshield can utilize a ratchet and pawl arrangement. The bracket can be provided with a resilient pawl that will engage any one of a plurality of ratchet teeth on the faceshield arms. Pin and detent arrangements, spring and ball assemblies, plain friction joints, and other similar arrangements are also provided in the field for use in providing an indexing or multiple position holding capability for a faceshield.
These currently available structures for attaching a faceshield to a piece of headgear suffer from a variety of problems and limitations. These render the assemblies difficult to use and expensive to manufacture. Any number of faceshield assemblies will provide protection for the wearer, if he or she will wear them. If the faceshield assembly is not easy to use, if it does not stay in an up or down position, or a desired intermediate position or, if it cannot easily be repositioned, the faceshield may not be used. The best faceshield assembly will do no good if its operation is SO difficult or inconvenient that the user chooses not to wear it.
Unfortunately, many of the known faceshield repositioning joint assemblies have limitations. For example, the faceshield either will not stay up, will not stay in its intended use position but instead rests against the face of the wearer, or requires two hands and too much time to change positions. The threaded stud and knob arrangement requires two hands, the ratchet and pawl assembly can break, the pin and detent wears out, and the friction joint slips.
It is desirable, therefore, to provide a pivot joint for a faceshield assembly which overcomes the limitations of the known devices. Such a pivot joint is provided by the present invention which is a substantial improvement over these devices.